quarrel with his brother, and, instead of
contesting with him the crown to which he had such fair pretensions, or
the duchy of which he was in possession, he proposed to mortgage to him
the latter during five years for a sum of thirteen thousand marks of
gold. William, who had neither sense of religion nor thirst of glory,
intrenched in his secure and narrow policy, laughed at a design that had
deceived all the great minds in Europe. He extorted, as usual, this sum
from his subjects, and immediately took possession of Normandy; whilst
Robert, at the head of a gallant army, leaving his hereditary dominions,
is gone to cut out unknown kingdoms in Asia.

Some conspiracies disturbed the course of the reign, or rather tyranny,
of this prince: as plots usually do, they ended in the ruin of those who
contrived them, but proved no check to the ill government of William.
Some disturbances, too, he had from the incursions of the Welsh, from
revolts in Normandy, and from a war, that began and ended without
anything memorable either in the cause or consequence, with France.

He had a dispute at home which at another time had raised great
disturbances; but nothing was now considered but the expedition to the
Holy Land. After the death of Lanfranc, William omitted for a long time
to fill up that see, and had even alienated a considerable portion of
the revenue. A fit of sickness, however, softened his mind; and the
clergy, taking advantage of those happy moments, among other parts of
misgovernment which they advised him to correct, particularly urged him
to fill the vacant sees. He filled that of Canterbury with Anselm,
Bishop of Bec, a man of great piety and learning, but inflexible and
rigid in whatever related to the rights, real or supposed, of the
Church. This prelate refused to accept the see of Canterbury, foreseeing
the troubles that must arise from his own dispositions and those of the
king; nor was he prevailed upon to accept it, but on a promise of
indemnification for what the temporalities of the see had suffered. But
William's sickness and pious resolutions ending together, little care
was taken about the execution of this agreement. Thus began a quarrel
between this rapacious king and inflexible archbishop. Soon after,
Anselm declared in favor of Pope Urban, before the king had recognized
him, and thus subjected himself to the law which William the Conqueror
had made against accepting a Pope without his consent. The qua